Welcome back to Friday and happy Bring A Loupe! Rare is a buzzword in watch collecting. Used far too often and with far too many accompanying adverbs in the annals of major auction house catalogs, I tend to err on the side of extreme caution when using the watch world’s favorite r-word. This week’s picks…

Another Friday, another list! This week, we enter the wonderful world of the El Primero movement. As most of you know, Zenith introduced its famous El Primero trio of watches in 1969. The brand was part of the illustrious race to release the first automatic chronograph, competing with Seiko and the consortium of brands formed…

This week on aBlogtoWatch Weekly, Rick is joined by Ariel, Ripley, and David, as per usual. After some chat about Jeff Goldblum’s new show, Chaos, in which a certain Casio timepiece figures prominently, Ariel and Ripley explain why they’re exhausted. They’ve just returned from Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, where the brand debuted two new Apple…

2024 marked the fifth iteration of Geneva Watch Days, and the first that I was not alone, but joined by Ariel Adams and Ed Rhee from team aBlogtoWatch. We could not have timed it any better, since Geneva Watch Days 2024 was by far the biggest, most complex installment to date. Let us now reflect…

When we look at the history of watchmaking over the past 150 years, we notice that most watches people wore were elegant (by today’s standards, that is). It wasn’t until the beginning of modern warfare in the early 20th century that watches became visually and mechanically utilitarian, with straightforward designs, better movements, and, generally speaking,…

As a brand that primarily creates timepieces for law enforcement, first responders, and military personnel, ProTek approaches watchmaking from a function-forward mentality. Back when the company first started, its sole focus was on ultra-rugged quartz watches with tritium-tube luminous displays. However, for its most recent release of 2024, ProTek introduced an automatic version of its…

They say money can’t buy you happiness, but pretty much everything else is for sale — especially when you have super deep pockets. LVMH stepping into Formula 1 in 2025 for a rumored annual sum of US$150 million is proof of that. Rolex has sponsored the biggest motorsport circus on Earth since 2011. Initially, the…

Since the brand’s founding in 2018, Norqain has built a robust lineup of modern, sporty watches. Customers like the attention to detail, expensive looks, and relatively affordable entry points. At Fratello, we’ve followed this journey by covering many of the latest releases. Today, we continue this by looking at the Norqain Independence Skeleton Chrono 42mm…